Cocking mechanism for lancing device

ABSTRACT

A lancing device is disclosed in which cocking of the lancet holder is achieved in response to retraction of a push member. A lancing device is also disclosed in which a lancet storage compartment is provided in the housing of the lancing device and closing movement of a closure member for the storage compartment has the effect of cocking the lancet holder. Methods of cocking lancing devices are also disclosed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/191,879 filed on Aug. 14, 2008 and incorporated herein inits entirety.

BACKGROUND

Lancing devices are typically handheld units that permit users to drawblood for testing and diagnostic purposes. These devices include ahousing with a piercing aperture, a lancet that contains one or moreneedles, and a firing mechanism. The firing mechanism typically includesa spring or other biasing means which can be cocked either by insertionof the lancet or by movement of a cocking member. Once the lancingdevice is cocked, it is placed against the user's skin, often thefingertip. The user can then press a trigger to actuate the firingmechanism, which momentarily drives the sharp tip of the needle throughthe piercing aperture to puncture the user's skin and draw blood.

A myriad of lancing devices have been proposed and/or commercialized.Whereas these devices are generally satisfactory, the cocking mechanismtends to be rather complex and expensive and the devices do not providea storage facility to store the lancets prior to use.

SUMMARY

Embodiments disclosed herein concern a lancing device of the typeincluding an elongated housing; a lancet holder receiving the lancet andmounted for axial movement in the housing between a retracted positionand operative position and a cocked position; a cocking mechanismoperative to move the lancet holder from its retracted position to itscocked position; and a trigger mounted on the housing and operative torelease the lancet holder for movement from the cocked position to theoperative position.

In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, a lancing deviceis disclosed comprising an elongated housing, a lancet, a lancet holderreceiving the lancet and configured to move axially in the housingbetween a retracted position, an extended position, and a cockedposition, and a cocking mechanism mounted on the housing and configuredto move first inward relative to the housing and subsequently outwardrelative to the housing. The lancet holder is further configured to movefrom its retracted position to its cocked position in response to theoutward movement of the cocking mechanism. The device also comprises atrigger mounted on the housing and operative to release the lancetholder for movement from the cocked position to the extended position.

In accordance with other embodiments of the invention, a lancing deviceis disclosed comprising a lancet, a lancet holder configured to receivethe lancet and mounted for axial movement in the housing between aretracted position, an extended position, and a cocked position, alancet storage compartment defined within the housing and sized toaccommodate a plurality of lancets, a door configured to move between anopen position allowing access to the storage compartment and a closedposition preventing access to the storage compartment, a cockingmechanism engaged with the door and configured to move the lancet holderfrom its retracted position to its cocked position when the door ismoved from the open position to the closed position and a triggermounted on the housing and configured to release the lancet holder tomove from the cocked position to the extended position.

In accordance with yet other embodiments of the invention, a method ofcocking a lancing device is disclosed. The method, for use with ahousing having a lancet holder disposed therein and a storagecompartment to accommodate a plurality of lancets, comprises opening adoor of the storage compartment to remove or deposit one or more of theplurality of lancets, and closing the door of the storage compartment tocock the lancing device, wherein closing the door of the storagecompartment moves the lancet holder from a neutral position to a cockedposition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawingswherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout theseveral views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a lancing device according to a firstembodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are schematic cross-sectional views of thelancing device of FIG. 1 showing successive steps in the usage of theinvention lancing device;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a cocking mechanism, alancet holder, and a trigger employed in the FIG. 1 embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a somewhat schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of thelancing device of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a somewhat schematic cross-sectional view taken on line 10-10of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the invention;and

FIG. 12 is a somewhat schematic cross-sectional view of the lancingdevice of FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The lancing device 10 seen in FIGS. 1-7, broadly considered, includes ahousing 12, a lancet 16, a lancet holder 18, a cocking mechanism 20 anda trigger mechanism 22.

Housing 10 includes a main body housing member 24 and a front cap 26.

Main body housing member 24 is elongated, has a generally rectangularcross-sectional configuration, and includes a top wall 24 a, a bottomwall 24 b, side walls 24 c, 24 d and a rear end wall 24 e. Top wall 24 aincludes an aperture 24 f to accommodate the trigger mechanism.

Front cap 26 is sized to be secured to the front end of housing member24 and includes a front wall 26 a defining a piercing aperture 26 b.

Lancet 16 is of known form and includes a generally cylindrical body 16a carrying one or more needles 16 b.

Lancet holder 18 comprises a rod suitably mounted for axial movement inthe housing and having a notch 18 a.

Cocking mechanism 20 includes a button 28 mounted in housing end wall 24e for inward and outward movement relative to the housing end wall andan actuator 30.

Actuator 30 includes a rearward rod portion 30 a, a forward guideportion 30 b and a central resilient portion 30 c.

The rear end 30 b of rod portion 36 is fixedly secured in a socket 28 aof button 28.

Guide portion 30 b has a generally planar configuration. Resilientportion 30 c includes an upper resilient arm 30 e interconnecting rodportion 30 a and guide portion 30 b and a lower resilient arm structure30 f further interconnecting rod portion 30 a and guide portion 30 b.Lower resilient arm structure 30 f defines a button 30 g and isbifurcated at its forward end to form a window 30 h to accommodate axialmovement of lancet holder 18.

Trigger mechanism 22 is in the form of a trigger button sized to fit inhousing aperture 24 f and defining guide structure 22 a on the underfaceof the button for slidable receipt of guide portion 30 b of actuator 30.

In assembled relation of the components of the lancing device, button 28is slidably received in end wall 24 e, lancet 16 is suitably mounted onthe front end of lancet holder 18, the rear end of actuator rod portion30 a is coupled to button 28, the front planar guide portion 30 b ofactuator 30 is slidably received in guide structure 22 a of trigger 22,and button 30 g is resiliently positioned proximate the underside oflancet holder 18.

Lancet holder 18 is suitably slidably guided in housing 12 for axialmovement between a retracted position seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 6, a cockedposition seen in FIG. 4, and an operative puncturing position seen inFIG. 5.

With initial reference to FIG. 2, showing the device with the lancetholder in its retracted position, button 28 is slidably mounted inhousing end wall 24 e, the upper face 22 b of trigger 22 is flush withthe upper face of housing upper wall 24 a, and button 30 g of actuator30 is resiliently pressed against the underface of lancet holder 18rearwardly of notch 18 a.

In the transitory position seen in FIG. 3, button 28 has been pressedinwardly or forwardly to move button 30 g into alignment with notch 18 awith this forward movement of the actuator accommodated by slidingmovement of actuator guide portion 30 b in trigger guide structure 22 a.

When button 30 g moves forwardly to a position of alignment with notch18 a the resilient nature of actuator guide portion 30 c presses thebutton into the notch 18 a whereupon, following release of button 28,the actuator and lancet holder move rearwardly within the housing underthe impetus of, for example, a suitable coil compression spring 32 tothe cocked position seen in FIG. 4, wherein the needle 16 b of thelancet is, for example, positioned proximate the interface of cap 26 andmain body housing member 24 and the upper face 22 b of trigger 22 ispositioned above the upper face of housing upper wall 24 a. Thisrearward movement of the lancet holder is accompanied by compression ofa suitable compression spring mechanism such as shown schematically at34, the spring device 34 being understood to exert a lesser biasingforce than the spring 32 so as not to impede the rearward movement ofthe actuator and the lancet holder under the bias of spring 32.

Once the lancing device has achieved the cocked position seen in FIG. 4,trigger 22 may be depressed as seen in FIG. 5 to resiliently displaceknob 13 g from notch 13 a and allow the lancet holder and lancet to befired forwardly under the impetus of spring device 34 to achieve thepiercing or puncture position of FIG. 5 wherein a needle 16 b extendsmarginally forwardly of the front wall 26 a of cap 26 to achieve thepatient piercing function whereafter the lancet and lancet holderretreat to the retracted position seen in FIG. 6, corresponding to theinitial position of FIG. 2. As the lancet holder and lancet are firedforwardly, and as seen in FIG. 5, actuator 30 and button 28 undergo aslight rebound movement but thereafter return to their initial retractedposition of FIGS. 2 and 6.

The lancing device of the FIGS. 1-7 of the embodiment will be seen toprovide a simple effective and inexpensive cocking mechanism.

The lancing device 40 of the FIGS. 8-10 embodiment, broadly considered,includes a housing 42, a lancet 16, a lancet holder 44, a cockingmechanism 46, and a trigger mechanism 48.

Housing mechanism 42 includes a main body housing member 50 and a frontcap 52 defining a piercing aperture 52 a.

Main body housing member 24 includes a top wall 50 a, a bottom wall 50b, side walls 50 c, 50 d, and an end wall 50 e. Top wall 50 a includesan aperture 50 f to accommodate trigger mechanism 48.

Main body housing member 50 defines a lancet storage compartment 50 gdefined by end wall 50 e, a longitudinal partition 50 h, a transversepartition 50 i, and overlying and underlying portions 50 a, 50 b of topwall 50 a and bottom wall 50 b, respectively. As seen, compartment 50 gis of a size to accommodate a large plurality of lancets 16. Main bodyhousing member 50 further defines a door 54 pivotally mounted about avertical axis 56 proximate a rear end of the lancing device for movementbetween an open position, as seen in FIGS. 8 and 9 and a closed positionin which access to the lancets is precluded.

Lancet holder 44 has a rod configuration and includes a detent notch 44a and a radial arm 44 b.

Lancet holder 44, as seen in FIG. 9, is suitably mounted for axialmovement within housing 42 between a retracted position seen in solidlines, a cocked position, and an operative or piercing position.

Cocking mechanism 46 includes an arcuate rack 60 and a pinion 62 mountedfor rotation in housing member 50 by a post 50 j and having an eccentricportion 62 a for coaction with radial arm 44 b of lancet holder 44.

Trigger mechanism 48 is schematically illustrated and may, for example,include a trigger member 66 positioned in housing aperture 50 f and adetent mechanism 68 biased downwardly against lancet holder 44 via asuitable spring mechanism 70. With the lancet holder 18 in the solidline retracted position, and with reference to FIG. 9, closing movementof door 54 has the effect of moving the lancet holder to its cockedposition. Specifically, as the door 54 is moved from its open to itsclosed position, arcuate rack 60 meshingly engages pinion 62 to rotatethe pinion and bring eccentric portions 62 a into engagement with lancetholder radial arm 44 b to move the lancet holder rearwardly within thehousing against the resistance of a coil spring 72. The parameters ofthe device are chosen such that as eccentric portion 62 a clears radialarm 44 b, detent 68 moves into detented engagement with notch 44 a sothat the lancet holder is held in its cocked position whereafter, upondepression of trigger mechanism 66 to release detent 68 from engagementwith notch 44 a, the lancet holder is free to move forwardly under theurging of spring 72 to achieve the piercing position. Note that in thisposition, since radial arm 44 b has now moved forwardly to a position inthe path of radial movement of eccentric portion 62 a of pinion 62, door54 cannot be opened to allow access to the lancets without a specificoperation on the part of the user to take the arm 44 b out of the pathof movement of eccentric portion 62 a. This may be done, for example, asshown in FIG. 9 by attaching a knob 74 to the rear end of lancet holder18 via a shaft 76 passing through housing end wall 50 e. With thisarrangement, knob 74 may be turned to rotate lancet holder 44 within thehousing to move radial arm 44 a out of the path of eccentric portion 62a and allow the door 54 to be opened to allow access to the lancetstorage compartment.

The lancing device of the FIGS. 8-10 embodiment will be seen to providea convenient arrangement for storing lancets, allow access to thestorage compartment to be coordinated with cocking of the lancet holder,and provide a safety feature in the sense that unauthorized orinadvertent access to the stored lancets is discouraged by requiring aspecific user operation to allow unlocking of the access door to thelancet storage compartment.

The lancing device of the FIGS. 11 and 12 embodiment is generallysimilar to the FIG. 8-10 embodiment with the exception that the lancetstorage compartment, rather than being defined within the housing bywalls of the housing, is defined as an integral part of the door 54 andmoves inwardly and outwardly with the door.

Specifically, the lancet storage compartment 80 of the FIGS. 11 and 12embodiment is constituted as a drawer carried by the door 54 and isdefined by the door, as the drawer face, by a floor 82, an arcuate endwall 84, and a partition 86.

With this construction, as the door 54 is moved to its open position,the lancets positioned in the storage compartment 80 are moved outwardlyof the housing to a position wherein they can be readily accessed fromthe open upper end of compartment 80.

A method of cocking the lancing device 40 disclosed with reference toFIGS. 8-12 comprises opening a door 54 of the storage compartment 50 gto remove or deposit one or more of the plurality of lancets 16 andclosing the door 54 of the storage compartment 50 g to cock the lancingdevice 40, wherein closing the door 54 of the storage compartment 50 gmoves the lancet holder 44 from a neutral position to a cocked position.The step of closing the door can operate a cocking mechanism 46, forexample, having a rack mounted within the housing on the door and apinion driven by the rack engaging the lancet holder. The door 54 can beconfigured to pivot between the open and closed positions. The door 54can be further configured to pivot about an axis on one edge of the doorproximate a rear end wall of the housing. The lancet storage compartment50 g can be a drawer and the door 54 can be the drawer face.

The above-mentioned embodiments have been described in order to alloweasy understanding of the present invention. The invention is not to belimited to the disclosed embodiments but, on the contrary, is intendedto cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which scope is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law.

1. A lancing device comprising: an elongated housing having a rear endand a front end with a piercing aperture therein; a lancet holderconfigured to receive a lancet and configured to move axially in thehousing between a cocked position, an extended position, and a neutralposition; a cocking mechanism having a user actuated portion extendingthrough the rear end of the housing and a rod contacting the useractuated portion at one end and having a first resilient memberextending from an opposing end of the rod and movable within a track ina trigger mechanism and a second resilient member extending from theopposing end of the rod and carrying a projection extending radiallytoward the lancet holder and configured to be received by a recess inthe lancet holder; and the trigger mechanism comprising auser-accessible surface operable to move the projection toward thehousing and out of the recess; wherein pressure on the user actuatedportion moves the user actuated portion into the housing while movingthe rod until the projection is received in the recess, and release ofpressure from the user actuated portion moves the user actuated portionfrom within the housing while moving the lancet holder from the neutralposition to the cocked position.
 2. The lancing device of claim 1,wherein the user-accessible surface is directly connected to the rod ofthe cocking mechanism.
 3. The lancing device of claim 1 wherein thetrigger mechanism is configured to move the lancet holder from thecocked position to the extended position by removing the projection fromthe recess.
 4. The lancing device of claim 1, wherein the secondresilient member is configured to bias the projection into the recess.5. The lancing device of claim 1 further comprising: a first springconfigured to be compressed by the pressure on the user actuator portionmoving the user actuated portion into the housing and configured to movethe lancet holder into the cocked position as the first spring isuncompressed.
 6. The lancing device of claim 5 further comprising: asecond spring configured to be compressed when the lancet holder is inthe cocked position and configured to move the lancet holder from theextended to the neutral position as the second spring is uncompressed.7. The lancing device of claim 6, wherein the second spring has one endcontacting a projection from the lancet holder and another endcontacting a projection from the housing.
 8. A lancing devicecomprising: a housing; a lancet holder within the housing and configuredto receive a lancet; a cocking mechanism having a knob extending from arear of the housing and a first resilient arm within the housing andcarrying a projection, the cocking mechanism configured to engage thelancet holder with the projection when the knob is pressed to a pressedposition into the housing and to cock the lancet holder when the knob isreleased from the pressed position; and a trigger mechanism having auser-accessible portion, the lancet holder positioned between theuser-accessible portion and the projection, wherein the cockingmechanism further comprises a second resilient arm extending from theknob to the trigger mechanism and having a guide portion slidablyengaging guide tracks on the user-accessible portion of the triggermechanism, the lancet holder positioned between the first resilient armand the second resilient arm.
 9. The lancing device of claim 8, whereinthe guide portion is configured to move within the guide tracks as thelancet holder is moved from a neutral position to a cocked position. 10.The lancing device of claim 8, wherein the projection is configured tobe received by a recess in the lancet holder.
 11. The lancing device ofclaim 8 further comprising a cocking spring configured to be compressedwhen the knob is pressed and configured to be relaxed when the knob isreleased.
 12. The lancing device of claim 11, wherein the cocking springis positioned directly between the knob and a wall extending from thehousing.
 13. The lancing device of claim 8 further comprising a firingspring positioned directly between a projection on the lancet holder anda wall extending from the housing.